Baroness Andrews: We do not hold data on the amount of allotment land lost over the last 10 years, but we do hold a national figure for the last five years.
	Government Office records indicate that in thelast five years there have been disposals affecting225 statutory allotment sites, in accordance with the legislative and planning framework in place to protect statutory allotments. Not all disposals result in the disposal of the full site—some relate to disposal of only a few plots.
	We do not require local authorities to provide figures for the disposal of temporary or private allotments, or allotment gains, or gains for other types of green spaces, as it is a matter for local authorities to determine levels of provision to meet communities' needs. We are aware that many local authorities are responding proactively to the recent resurgence in public interest in allotments.

Lord Rooker: Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora (EC habitats directive) is the means by which the community meets its obligations as a signatory of the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern convention).
	Under Article 12 of the habitats directive,
	"member states shall take the requisite measures to establish a system of strict protection for the animal species listed in Annex IV (a) in their natural range".
	These are animal species of community interestin need of strict protection, and Annex IV (a) corresponds to the strict protection for species listed in Appendix II of the Bern convention. The red squirrel (sciurus vulgaris) is not listed in Appendix II and therefore is not listed under Annex IV (a) of the habitats directive.
	Under Article 6 of the Bern convention, signatories must,
	"take appropriate and necessary legislative and administrative measures to ensure the special protection of the wild fauna species",
	specified in Appendix II, as opposed to the lower level of protection afforded under Article 7 for species listed in Appendix III (which does include the red squirrel).
	This obligation is fulfilled in Great Britain under Section 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which states that if any person intentionally kills injures or takes any wild animal included in Schedule 5 to the Act he shall be guilty of an offence. The red squirrelis listed under Schedule 5. In England and Wales, the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 added an element of recklessness to the offence concerning disturbance of such an animal or damaging its places of shelter.

Lord Rooker: The Scottish Executive are fundinga three-year squirrel pox virus research project to establish factors in the transmission of the virusand how it is replicated within the body of infected animals. The project will begin this June at a total cost of £300,000.
	The UK Red Squirrel Group is actively seeking to encourage new partners in developing and funding appropriate squirrel pox research proposals.
	My department is funding a three-year project to examine the effectiveness and potential side effectsof fertility control as a means of managing over-abundant wildlife populations. The project is to establish proof of concept for birds and mammals and three main species are being used to test the technique: wild boar, grey squirrel and ring-necked parakeet. This project is costing £993,000. Additionally, the Forestry Commission is providing £40,000 for work on grey squirrel. To date, immunocontraceptive vaccines have been tested only on wild boar and only by injection. This project is due to end on 31 March 2008. It had been intended to test vaccines on grey squirrels but the development of oral baiting systems has not progressed sufficiently and therefore preliminary trials on another type of fertility control agent have been initiated. The work on this project is still at a relatively early stage and further research is likely to be required to fully evaluate fertility control as a viable management technique.

Lord Rooker: Implementation of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan continues and red squirrels are also benefiting from 20 local biodiversity action plans. Work is under way to conserve red squirrels through identification of priority woodlands and implementation of best management practice, improving grey squirrel control, and conducting research into how red squirrels can be protected from squirrel pox virus. Despite these efforts, the red squirrel continues to decline across the UK because the threats cannot be easily reduced.
	A conservation strategy, known as Red Alert North England, has been developed by a broad partnership of organisations with the aim of ensuring the long-term survival of red squirrel. Based on research evidence, this partnership has identified16 red squirrel reserves where they believe the red squirrel has the best chance of long-term survival. These have management plans to help guide landowners and managers in conserving the red squirrel.
	There are no specific obligations regarding expenditure, but financial resources for conservation measures are provided through a number of means. Of the many projects under way, the most notable is the Save our Squirrels project which is the largest single-species conservation project in the UK. It has a budget of over £1.2 million over three years and receives support from a range of bodies including Natural England, Forestry Commission, three National Parks, and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Decisions on the staffing and funding of the Metropolitan Police Service Artsand Antiques Unit are operational ones for the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis.

Baroness Ashton of Upholland: The Electoral Commission will be evaluating the impact of the Electoral Administration Act 2006and the implementation of postal vote identifiers particularly in the context of the elections held on3 May 2007. I understand that this evaluation will include the consideration of the impact of the changes on service personnel serving abroad.

Lord Truscott: The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is determined to promote and encourage supply chain development (consistent with public procurement rules) and in executing its nuclear decommissioning and clean-up programmes relies on a series of complex and interrelated supply chains. In the financial year 2006-07, more than £1.2 billion of the NDA's total programme budget was spent by site licence companies (SLC) in the supply chain. Details are as follows:
	
		
			 SLC Value of Supply Chain Spend 2006-07 
			 Sellafield £640 million 
			 Magnox North £215 million 
			 Magnox South £144 million 
			 Dounreay £95 million 
			 Harwell/Winfrith £65 million 
			 Springfields £93 million 
			 Total £1,251 million 
			 Note 
			 Magnox North: Calder Hall, Chapelcross, Hunterston A, Oldbury, Trawsfynydd, Wylfa 
			 Magnox South: Berkeley, Bradwell, Dungeness A, Hinkley Point A, Sizewell A. 
		
	
	Supply chain spend is driven by a number of contractual obligations including a requirementto compete work in line with European Union procurement rules including advertising in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). This has led to a significant increase in the level of work awarded competitively. In addition, each SLC is required to prepare and publish annual site procurement plans which inform potential bidders of opportunities.
	The NDA has appointed a head of supply chain development to support the development of supply chains so that it can meet NDA current and long-term needs, and the NDA has launched a number of initiatives, supported by benchmarking, to help judge the effectiveness of current policies and procedures. In addition, it continues to fund and participate in a wide range of events to promote supply chain development at SLC, regional, national and international levels. These, along with private bilateral market discussions, provide NDA with critical market feedback.
	More information on the NDA's activities can be found on its website at www.nda.gov.uk.

Lord Truscott: The European Commission's report The Support of Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources, reference COM(2005)627, published on7 December 2005, assesses the systems used and their effectiveness in encouraging deployment of renewable energy technologies in member states. That study found that 19 of the 27 European countries studied had feed-in tariff schemes, five had some form of green certificate system (including the UK), two used tendering, and two used tax incentives as their primary mechanism. Many of the countries use combinations of mechanisms or supplement their primary mechanisms with tax incentives and other direct or indirect subsidies.
	The Commission's report also notes:
	"In assessing effectiveness, the effects of more recent systems are difficult to judge. In particular, the experience with green certificates is more limited than with feed in tariffs".
	The UK Government support this caveat as atsuch an early stage in its introduction it is difficult to assess certificate mechanisms such as the renewables obligation (RO) against more established systems. The RO has, however, been successful in stimulating investment in renewable energy projects and we are looking at ways of strengthening and modifying it to further increase deployment. Any proposed changes to the RO will be announced in the forthcoming energy White Paper.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The first ministerial meeting of the high-level group on the future development of justice and home affairs will take place in Germany on 20 and 21 May. Her Majesty's Government plan officially to nominate a Home Office Minister astheir representative in advance of that meeting. I represented the UK at a meeting in Brussels on14 February which discussed the structure and work of the group.

Lord Harrison: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What assessment they have made of the supervisory convergence measures initiated by the Committee of European Security Regulators in ensuring common guidelines, information sharing, and consistent application of key pieces of European Union financial services legislation, in particular, the Markets in Financial Investments Directive.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The rules governing the marketing of hedge funds to investors in the UK are a matter for the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The approach taken by the FSA does not rely on an assessment of the wealth of the investor but on an assessment of the investor's ability to understandthe risks involved. Retail marketing of hedge fund investments is prohibited. The FSA is satisfied that these rules continue to provide an appropriate level of protection.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The public health White Paper, Choosing Health, set out the Government's commitment to changing the nature and balance of food promotion to children across all media. In response, the independent broadcasting regulator Ofcom recently introduced significantly stronger rules on television advertising of food and drinkto children. The Government are committed to evaluating the impact of these new measures and will then decide whether further action is necessary.

Lord Roberts of Conwy: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the results of the recent potato sale survey in South Wales have been repeated elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What assessment they have made of the number of children who will have an examination using ionising radiation rather than magnetic resonance imaging each year; and at what radiation dose if the European Union Physical Agents Directive is ratified.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Some 2,481,571 people had an imaging examination using ionising radiation in 2005-06. The data do not distinguish childrenfrom adults. The European Union Physical Agents Directive covers the health and safety of staff working with non-ionising radiation examinations such as magnetic resonance imaging. It does not cover ionising radiation.
	Source: Annual KH12 return.

Lord Dykes: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What assessment they have made of the remarks of General Sir Michael Rose on television on2 May concerning the withdrawal of United Kingdom forces from Iraq.

Lord Dykes: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is the extent of the involvement of United Kingdom officials in the United Nations sponsored Millennium Ecosystem Assessment project launched in 2001 by the United Nations Environment Programme, especially in respect of nutrient cycling and fibre and water provisioning.

Lord Rooker: The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) was prepared by 1,360 experts from 95 countries with an 80-person independent board of review editors. The overall summary report of the MA was launched on 30 March 2005 at a series of media events around the world, with the main press event in London. The then Minister of State for the Environment and Agri-Environment (Elliot Morley), gave the opening speech. The biodiversity synthesis report was released in May 2006. The then Minister for Rural Affairs, Landscape and Biodiversity (Jim Knight) spoke at the London launch.
	Defra officials were engaged in the MA process at an early stage through consultations which took place with various multilateral environmental agreements (for example, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Ramsar Convention). Defra officials co-ordinated views on the peer review of the reports to the MA secretariat from government departments and agencies. A Defra official also participated asa lead author of a chapter (Policy Implications, Volume II, Chapter 14).
	In addition, Defra and the Department for International Development have also made financial contributions to the MA and follow-up work.
	We are not aware of any specific contribution by UK officials in respect of nutrient cycling and fibre and water provisioning.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: Costs incurred by the DCA up to 9 May 2007 in relation to the setting up of the Ministry of Justice are estimatedat £1.5m. These costs mainly relate to IT and estate changes to ensure the new Ministry can operate effectively. Additional costs arising from the integration of the various activities that constitute the new Ministry will be incurred after 9 May. These costs have yet to be fully assessed.

Lord Davies of Oldham: Following the Public Services Forum agreement with public service unions in October 2005, the teachers, NHS and the Civil Service pension schemes have been undergoing reforms to ensure future affordability. The increase in the pension ages for new entrants is an important component of these reforms, which also include sharing of future costs between employees and employers and a cap on future employer contribution rates. Reform has also taken place in other schemes including their counterpart schemes in devolved Administrations and the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).
	Information on the pension ages currently applied in all public sector schemes is not held centrally, but the position as regards new entrants to the main schemes for which UK government Ministers are responsible is:
	Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS)—60, but the Cabinet Office has announced that new arrangements with a pension age of 65 are to start from July 2007;Teachers' pension scheme in England and Wales—65, with effect from 1 January 2007;NHS Pension Scheme—60, but NHS employers have proposed that arrangements with a pension age of 65 should start by 2008;Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)—65;Police—55, or 65 for those who leave before age 55, both with effect from 6 April 2006;Fire fighters—60, or 65 for those who leave before age 55, both with effect from 6 April 2006; and Armed Forces—55, or 65 for those who leave before age 55, both with effect from 6 April 2005.

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they have given consideration to the 26th Report of the Joint Committee for Human Rights (HL Paper 245, Session 2005—06) regarding the treatment of victims of trafficking and the implementation of recovery and reflection periods; and, if so, what steps they intend to take to implement the recommendations in this report.

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many publicly-funded shelters are available, and how many beds are available in the United Kingdom for victims of human trafficking.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: The Government are investing £2.4 million over a two-year period into the Poppy project to support women who have been trafficked into the United Kingdom for the purposes of sexual exploitation. The Poppy project has 35bed spaces and also provides outreach support. Additionally there are two independently funded projects that can collectively accommodate up to19 women.

Lord Maginnis of Drumglass: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether, in view of damage done to national security as a result of the Police Ombudsmanfor Northern Ireland publishing the McCord and Restorick reports on her website, they have plans to constrain the use of the Section 62 provision of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998 in order to prevent further breaches of national security; and, if so, how soon this will be done.

Lord Drayson: No. 6 Squadron relocating earlyto RAF Coningsby enabled the closure of RAF Coltishall, resulting in the saving of £5 million in station maintenance costs.

Baroness Andrews: The Government do not collect the information requested centrally; planning for civic amenity sites is a matter for the local authoritiesto ensure that they are able to deliver their waste strategies. However, 2005-06 data show that there were known to be 41 civic amenity sites in the geographical area of the Greater London Authority, an increase over the 40 in 2000-01.

Lord Warner: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What estimates have been made of the number of civil amenity sites required in the geographical area of the Greater London Authority to meet the European landfill targets in 2010, 2013 and 2020; and
	What powers the Mayor has under the Greater London Authority Act 1999 to direct London boroughs to expand the number of civic amenity sites if these are considered insufficient to meetthe European landfill targets of 2010, 2013 and 2020 without reasonable fear of legal challenge.

Lord Rooker: No such estimate has been made. European Union landfill directive targets to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste landfilled apply to England and not to regions, the Greater London Authority or individual local authorities. The Greater London Authority keeps a record of numbers and locations of civic amenity sites in London.
	Local authorities are collectively working towards reducing landfilling through waste minimisation, recycling and composting (via kerbside collection schemes and facilities at civic amenity sites), aswell as other waste treatment methods. Best value performance data show that over 90 per cent of London households receive a recycling collection service from home, or have suitable access to communal facilities.
	The Mayor is a statutory consultee on the development plans of London boroughs (LDDs) which must be in general conformity with his London Plan. Should the Mayor have concerns on a borough's proposed provision of land for waste facilities, his representations would be considered at the examination in public by an independent inspector.

Baroness Turner of Camden: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What statutory powers the Mayor will have under proposals set out in July in The Greater London Authority: The Government's Final Proposals for Additional Powers and Responsibilities for the Mayor and Assembly to deliver the waste minimisation and recycling aspects of his municipal waste management strategy; and
	What statutory powers the London Waste and Recycling Forum will have to deal with (a) waste management; (b) the introduction of new waste management technology; (c) increasing recycling levels; (d) the co-ordination of the transportation of waste; (e) climate change; (f) delivering the landfill directive; and (g) reducing the export of waste to landfills in regions surrounding London; and
	What assessment they have made of the financial cost of the new London Waste and Recycling Forum; and who will bear this cost; and
	What are the different responsibilities of the new London Waste and Recycling Forum andthe existing London Regional Strategic Advisory Forum on Waste.

Lord Rooker: The Mayor's powers to implement his municipal waste management strategy remain unchanged by the Government's proposals. However, a new duty has been placed on London's waste authorities to be in "general conformity" with the Mayor's strategy when exercising their waste functions.
	The London-wide Waste and Recycling Forum, announced in The Government's Final Proposals for Additional Powers and Responsibilities for the Mayor and Assembly, in July last year, will bring togetherkey interested parties, including London waste authorities, to improve waste management and recycling in London.
	The Government have not proposed that the forum should have statutory powers and remain to be convinced that a statutory basis is necessary. Following discussions on the forum in Grand Committee the Government have agreed to further consider the role and constitution of the forum with interested stakeholders ahead of the next stage in the House of Lords. As part of these discussions, the relationship of the forum with other relevant groups, such as the Regional Strategic Advisory Forum, will be considered. These considerations will also inform the cost of running the forum, and how it will be funded.

Lord Warner: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What percentage of non-household wastewas recycled in the area of the Greater London Authority compared with the national average for England in 2005-06 and in each of the previous five years; and what are the estimated comparable figures for 2006-07 and 2007-08.

Lord Rooker: The tables below show the percentages of municipal waste recycled in London and in England from 2000-01. Data for 2006-07 and 2007-08 are not yet available. Municipal waste includes household waste and any other waste collected by a waste collection authority, or its agents, such as municipal parks and garden waste, beach cleansing waste, commercial or industrial waste and waste resulting from the clearance of fly-tipped materials.
	
		
			 England (Percentages) 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 
			 Municipal household waste recycling/composting 12.3 13.6 15.6 19.0 23.5 27.1 
			 Municipal non-household waste recycling/composting 21.4 21.4 23.4 27.7 29.5 30.5 
			 Source: Defra municipal waste statistics 
		
	
	
		
			 London (percentages) 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 
			 Municipal household waste recycling/composting 7.8 7.9 9.2 11.4 14.7 18.1 
			 Municipal non-household waste recycling/composting 3.8 3.2 4.0 4.8 5.8 8.6 
			 Source: Defra municipal waste statistics 
		
	
	Further data are not available for non-household waste, which includes commercial, industrial, construction and demolition wastes. Defra does not publish figures of non-household waste recycling rates by local authority or region. The figures are heavily dependent on factors such as the type of wastes collected, and the amount of rubble an area has to deal with. Furthermore, as these wastes are not, for the most part, the responsibility of local authorities, data which would answer this question directly are not collected by the Government.
	No estimates have been made on the percentage of non-household waste likely to be recycled in 2006-07 and 2007-08. For household waste, the Government have set statutory performance standards for recycling and composting in 2007-08 for all local authorities (including those in London), equal to the level of their targets in 2005-06 with the exception that the "floor level" of recycling performance is increased from 18 to 20 per cent for 2007-08. This will help to narrow the gap between the best and the worst authorities and ensure a more even level of service across the country.

Lord Rooker: Household recycling and composting rates achieved by each London borough for the years requested, as well as their 2007-08 targets, are shown in the following table1
	
		
			  2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2007-08 
			 Authority Total % Total % Total % Total % Total % Statutory Recycling Target % 
			 Barking and Dagenham 2 2 7 14 17 20 
			 Barnet 8 12 17 20 27 27 
			 Bexley 20 22 21 30 38 30 
			 Brent 6 7 8 14 20 20 
			 Bromley 14 15 20 23 27 21 
			 Camden 14 16 19 25 27 30 
			 City of London 13 14 19 15 18 20 
			 City of Westminster 9 11 14 14 18 20 
			 Croydon 15 13 14 13 16 30 
			 Ealing 10 11 12 15 19 30 
			 East London WA 7 6 8 12 15 20 
			 Enfield 9 12 16 24 27 27 
			 Greenwich 11 9 12 19 22 20 
			 Hackney 1 3 7 12 16 20 
			 Hammersmith & Fulham 8 8 15 20 21 24 
			 Haringey 5 4 9 14 19 20 
			 Harrow 10 9 13 19 27 24 
			 Havering 11 7 10 16 18 27 
			 Hillingdon 15 19 24 27 28 21 
			 Hounslow 12 15 16 17 19 30 
			 Islington 5 6 8 11 18 17 
			 Kensington & Chelsea 9 8 16 18 20 27 
			 Kingston upon Thames 18 19 18 18 24 38 
			 Lambeth 9 11 10 16 22 20 
			 Lewisham 5 7 8 10 12 27 
			 Merton 16 15 15 20 23 27 
			 Newham 3 4 6 6 10 18 
			 North London WA 8 10 13 18 21 18 
			 Redbridge 8 10 12 16 17 16 
			 Richmond upon Thames 17 20 22 24 29 19 
			 Southwark 4 5 7 11 15 15 
			 Sutton 19 19 25 28 29 27 
			 Tower Hamlets 3 3 5 7 9 22 
			 Waltham Forest 8 10 12 18 22 16 
			 Wandsworth 9 10 17 17 21 21 
			 West London WA 12 14 17 20 25 19 
			 Western Riverside WA 9 11 15 18 22 27 
		
	
	No estimate of recycling and composting rates for 2006-07 has been made.
	As the table shows, many of the London authorities have achieved recycling and composting rates which exceed or are equal to their 2007-08 targets. The Government and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) are targeting engagement and support in order to improve the recycling rates of the poorest performing local authorities.
	1Source: Audit Commission's Best Value Performance Indicators.

Lord Maginnis of Drumglass: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will take steps to disassociate the United Kingdom and the European Union from the appointment of Francis Nhema as chairman of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, in light of his tenure as Environment and Tourism Minister in the Government of Zimbabwe.